Naaman's Championship BBQ - Texarkana

Two years ago we visited southern Texas and we made a point of visiting and comparing bbq joints: Augies Barbed Wire Smoke House in San Antonio, Texas Pride Barbecue in Adkins, Southside Market & Barbeque in Elgin, and T-Bone Tom's in Kemah, outside Houston. We recently visited northern Texas and Arkansas and decided to do the same thing again. 

Our first stop, on our drive from Dallas to Little Rock, was Naaman's Championship BBQ in Texarkana, Texas, right on the Texas/Arkansas border, as might be deduced from the name. It had been a portable bbq truck, but was now the bbq truck connected to a building. It was about a three hour drive from the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, and we hit it about 5:00 p.m., after eating no lunch, so we were hungry. 

Reading about Arkansas bbq, it tends to be more mild and less fatty. In general I preferred the bbq in southern Texas, but this comparison will only be among the four bbq joints we ate at on this trip. 

At Naaman's, we ordered a 3/4 pound meat plate to share, which included a 1/3 pound of pulled pork, a 1/3 pound of pork ribs and a 1/3 pound of sausage. As our two sides we chose twice baked potatoes and "meat in the beans." 

I believe each of the bbq joints we ate at gave us pieces of bread. 

The ribs were fairly meaty, had a wide pink smoke ring around them, and were quite moist. I felt like they were the second best ribs out of the four places we visited. I prefer the ribs  to have a little more fat in them. 

The pulled pork was long strands of pork, hardly pulled, dry, ends with a pink smoke ring, a nice flavor. It was my second favorite pulled pork, which isn't saying much, because I'm not a real pulled pork lover. 

The sausage was a little cold, not very moist and not great flavor, perhaps at least partially because it was not as warm as it should have been. It was my least favorite sausage and I do love sausage. 

I was given a sample of brisket when I ordered. It also had a nice pink smoke ring, a little dry, but some nice fatty portions. It was my second favorite brisket out of the four restaurants we tried. 

The best thing about the meal was the twice baked potatoes. Very flavorful and super-good. This was the only bbq restaurant in which we had mashed potatoes, but these were by far my favorite of any of the sides. 

The beans were the best beans from the four restaurants. They were a little watery, but spicy and packed some heat. The beans were not like the beans in pork n' beans like two of the other restaurants had. They were a little more firm. 

I felt like the meat was the best quality of all the meat from the four bbq joints, and even though none of the meat items were my favorites, the sides were the best of all the sides we had elsewhere. If I had to go regularly to one of the four, Naaman's would probably be my first choice.